of hearth and hellfire
by Satoshi-H
Summary: It's the end of the world, and they don't have much besides each other. Light pompep nothing to write home to mom about/


So uh. this isnt like a proper story or anything cool i just went crazy at one in the morning and couldnt stop myself whoops/ but yeah my characterizations off the charts of bad and everythings just wanky cause i wrote this all while half asleep SO whoops lol sorry but yeah

ahahaha;;;;; but yeah theres probably 23492384789 spelling errors and tense errors itll be like where's waldo

where's nings latest fuckup

we just dont know

* * *

"Oh, _fuck!_"

The two words, as vulgar as they were, stole Vlad's breath away easier than any punch to the gut had ever done. Because words meant thought, and thought meant a real - living - breathing - person.

Blowing caution to the woods, Vlad scrambled out from under the trashed semi truck he'd been hiding under. His right hand squeezed down on his gun, while his left channeled ectoplasm into a fine blade.

A person. It didn't matter who it was, or what he had to go through to get to them. He'd _found somebody. _

His legs carried him more than his mind did, and he swerved around a pair of rotted, grabby arms and gnashing teeth with ease.

A flash of green light zeroed his attention in on the darkened side alley to his right, and with an agile leap Vlad flew over the wire mesh fence in between himself and the mystery survivor.

When he rounded the last corner and the alley came full into view, he told himself he shouldn't have been surprised. It was honestly, just the kind of crude irony he should have learned to expect by now from his life.

"D-Daniel?!"

The sight before him wasn't pretty, yet it was the best thing he'd seen in a month.

Daniel Fenton's shocked face snapped up, and their eyes met right as the boy brought a filthy fireaxe down on a walker's head, smashing it open. The blood and brain matter splattered out from the enormous gash like a pair of dull red wings flying up between them, signaling a new rebirth to Vlad's life; a proverbial rising phoenix from the ashes.

* * *

After their first incredulous reunion, Daniel never talked much. He kept to himself, and hung around the door whenever they made camp in some new, dilapidated building. Much like Vlad, Danny only carried one bag. It was strangely familiar to Vlad, and it didn't take him long to realize it was Danny's old school backpack.

Seeing such an old, nostalgic item ravaged and splattered with blood shook Vlad harder than he liked to admit. Then again, Vlad never really liked admitting to anything that could paint him in a weak light. Not even the dead walking was going to change that.

High up on the third floor of an unfinished office building construction site, Vlad sat as close as possible to his fire. It was a purely ectoplasmic flame, specifically so smoke wouldn't rise and call curious walkers to their position. Vlad wasn't sure the smoke could tip them off or not, but he really wasn't taking any chances.

Daniel had seated himself a ways away from the fire, in the darkness of the room where its light couldn't reach.

It had been a week since either of them had spoken to each other besides commands and affirmatives, and it was driving Vlad insane.

He fixed his gaze on the teenager - was he still a teenager? Or had more time passed than Vlad had assumed? He had no way of knowing besides asking - and for the first time since he'd met up with Daniel, he allowed himself to inspect his new 'partner.'

The familiar shaggy black hair was still the same, if only a bit filthier than he remembered. Daniel always wore a tattered dark blue beanie over it; he pulled the brim down almost all the way to the top of his eyes. His eyes... Vlad couldn't see them well in the darkness, but he knew how they looked.

They were the same clear blue they'd always been, but... shadows crept and crawled behind them, now. Oh, the boy he used to know had certainly had a few haunting wisps in his eyes before, but... never like this.

Vlad knew Daniel's pants were new, as they'd raided a few side stores in Amity Park's mall the other day. (Going all the way in would be suicide, after all. Ghost powers or not, some things were just too much. ) Vlad had found a new jacket to replace the one a walker had ripped through/ _and had barely missed his shoulder with it's spasming mouth if not for daniel he'd probably be one of them right now / _and Daniel had grabbed a new pair of jeans. _a walker had pushed him up against a rotating saw while trying to take a bite that thankfully hadn't been turned on but it had still done some damage and vlad wondered why why why didn't he just go intangible and slide through it_

Daniel still always wore that red and white shirt. It was pretty much ruined and revealed a bit more of the boy's chest than he was comfortable with at first, but he'd gotten used to it. Vlad couldn't ask Daniel to throw away that shirt any more than Daniel could ask him to toss out his old tie that Maddie had bought for him as a present all those years ago. They were important relics from their fractured pasts.

He'd also taken to wearing a bandanna around his neck. It was red just like his shirt, and Vlad imagined that Daniel wore it to try and have some kind of protection on his neck.

Necks were walkers' favorite spots, after all. The skin's thin, and there's a lot of blood pumping through.

Daniel had picked up a pair of black leather gloves along the way. They were ratty and obviously cut down with a pair of scissors, but they were thick and did their job.

Vlad looked down at himself. Besides the new jacket...

he really didn't any different, he mused.

* * *

"Vlad."

Vlad almost knocked his water bottle over when he heard Daniel's voice. They were camping out in an abandoned house (they say abandoned because, really, noone 'lives' there anymore. they already took care of the house's... dearly departed tenants.) and although Daniel was leaned up against the wood door like usual, his eyes were fixed on Vlad.

This was new.

"... Yes, Daniel?" Vlad tentatively answered. He was almost giddy, and a strange nervous feeling danced around his stomach. Even though they'd been wandering together for about a month now, they still hadn't really had an actual conversation with each other. There was a plethora of questions Vlad had burned to ask Daniel at first, but as time had gone on... he couldn't find the time - or the nerve.

"..." Daniel averted his eyes, and leaned just a bit to peek out the window. He stayed like that for a few moments that felt longer for Vlad than they probably should have, before finally turning back. "Why did you come back?" Daniel asked, voice monotone and flat.

"Why... did I come back?" Vlad blinked stupidly. He'd been doing that a lot recently, he noted with a scowl.

"Yeah. From space. You coulda just stayed up there, and... you wouldn't have hadta deal with all... this." It was small, but Vlad heard Daniel's voice waver just a bit.

Vlad looked at the floor, and watched the phoenix flame's shadows dance across the tiled wood. "I didn't really... know what I was coming back to. Trust me, the last thing I expected to be waiting for me was this."

Daniel's face tightened even more, and he straightened his arms out at his sides. "You would have stayed up there, if you'd known?"

Vlad frowned, and thought about it. His immediate response would have been 'Of course!' but... something held his tongue. He imagined Daniel wandering the streets alone, cursing and spitting while axing moaning corpses into bits. Finally, he shook his head.

"No. I... I still would have come back." Vlad's face cracked into a loose smirk that burned his unaccustomed facial muscles. "After all, who would watch out for your head if I wasn't around, hmm?"

Daniel stared at him, mouth hanging open and eyes wide. "You- you can't be serious..."

They stared at each other for a few moments, before...

A sheepish grin stretched it's way across Daniel's face, and in a few moments he was chuckling. The act seemed so strange, so foreign, that Vlad couldn't help but snicker himself. It was obvious, he was sure, on the both of them how long it had been since they'd laughed. Worry lines eased on Daniel's face, and the boy sighed before shaking his head.

* * *

It was almost like, with that one gesture, Vlad had broken open the floodgates. Daniel certainly wasn't the chatterbox he used to be, but it was a far cry from the stoic silence they'd used to share. Daniel had even made a few clever jokes here and there.

With the morale up, Vlad felt like it was finally okay to ask the question that had been burning on his mind since the very first day he'd floated back down to earth's stratosphere and been reintroduced to the new world order, first hand.

"So... how did this all happen?"

The question echoed out into the sky. The two of them were catching their breath up on one of the highest roofs they could find / _a whole hoard bigger than anything they'd ever encountered was right on their heels snarling snapping groaning with hunger they were fast way faster than he'd expected _/ after a particularly long day. They'd been planning on hitting one of the restaurants on Main Street for almost a week now, and every time it came up Vlad insisted that he would rather them fly there than go on foot. Main Street was always heavy with walkers, and it was a horror getting in and out. Daniel would look away every time, a dark look in his eyes. He refused.

"All this? Do you mean the-" Daniel gestures with his hand at the few walkers that were pounding on the walls below them. "reanimated dead, or some other world tragedy?"

Vlad frowned. "You know what I mean."

Scratching his head, Danny turned to look out at the drifting sunset. It really was a fantastic mix of reds, oranges, and purples. Vlad came up to stop beside him, and leaned against the metal fence surrounding the roof's overhang.

They stood quietly and watched the sunset for a few more minutes, before Daniel sighed irritably and turned around. He folded his arms, and began to chew his bottom lip. "I'm... not actually sure. I have no clue how it started for the whole world, or anything decisive. All I know is how it started for me, really."

Vlad's eyes narrowed, but he didn't take them from the fiery setting sun. "How it started for you?"

Daniel shook his head. "It's nothing. We should set up those sleeping bags we grabbed earlier. It'll be a lot nicer than the ground for once."

Vlad rubbed his beard. He could let it go, or push it further. Mouth pulled into a tight line, he zipped open his pack and ruffled around for the sleeping bag boxes they'd grabbed from the grocery store. There hadn't been much of anything left there, really. Vlad's eyebrows hands stilled as his eyebrows creased in thought. Who had filched all the supplies before them? He'd never seen another survivor besides himself and Daniel. Logically, Vlad knew that there were more. Maddie, for one. There was no way she'd let herself be beat by something like this. Daniel hadn't mentioned her since they'd grouped up, and to be courteous neither had Vlad. He imagined that Daniel and his mother had been split up, separated somehow. Maybe Daniel was staying in Amity Park because Maddie said she'd come back to meet him there? Then all Vlad had to do was wait.

He found one box, but... the other one he clearly remember stuffing in his bag was nowhere to be found. Had he misplaced it somewhere? Or maybe it fell out? Vlad shook his head and groaned. "I... well, I found one. I could swear that I packed another one, but..."

Daniel sighed. "I guess I'll just stay on the floor, then. It's fine, I'll just grab another one tomorrow."

Vlad's head shot up. "You?" Daniel was offering to let him have the sleeping bag.

"Well, yeah." A mischievous grin that plucked at the strings of Vlad's heart spread out across the boy's face. "I mean, you're such a sad old man your back might just break if you spend one more night on the floor without padding."

Vlad bristled. "I am not a- a sad-old-man!" He hissed, and tossed the box at Daniel. "You take it! I don't need it!"

The box hit Daniel square in the face, and he stared at Vlad as it fell. The grin slipped from his face - _no, come back, keep laughing, please? - _and he sheepishly fidgeted and stared down at the box in his hands.

"Well... you know... " Daniel started, but trailed off.

Raising an eyebrow, Vlad folded his arms. "Yes? Spit it out, Daniel."

Huffing, Daniel glared at him before looking away again. "We could- I mean- Well, we could, you know."

...

Vlad stared at him, blankfaced, and took a sip of water.

Groaning, Daniel tossed the box back to Vlad before looking him flat in the eyes. "We could share it."

He quickly regretted taking that drink as the water spluttered out of his mouth and onto his bottle. "W-WHAT?!"

Daniel's face twisted in sudden seriousness. "Keep it down, damnit! Do you want a hoard of walkers up here? I boarded the door up, but you know if they hear you..." He growled before sighing and shaking his head. "All I said is that we could share it. I think it's pretty big, we could both fit."

Vlad just stared.

Throwing his hands up in the air, Daniel spat out, "Fine, fine - I was just trying to help. Christ. I'll just take it, no need for you to have a coronary, old man." His hands dug into the box, and ripped out the sleeping bag so harshly it almost ricocheted back up and hit him.

Vlad growled and grabbed a corner of the material with a harsh tug. "I'll join you, Daniel."

This time it was Daniel's turn to splutter and stare. "O-okay!" He squeaked. The two of them laid out the sleeping bag in an awkward silence. Once it was ready, neither of them made a move.

Finally, Daniel muttered and briskly slipped into the bag. "Well? Are you coming or not? It'll be warm in here, especially with the two of us."

Vlad swallowed painfully, and closed his eyes. He carefully slid into the opening making sure to only brush Daniel once or twice before turning the opposite direction and closing his eyes in mock sleep.

Neither of them said anything for a long, long time. Daniel's heat radiated off him like a furnace, and Vlad found it oddly comforting. A strand of his mind asked him, _why is daniel warm shouldn't he be cold is his core alright _but sleep was starting to creep in on the edges. His eyes were drooping closed when he heard the small voice beside him speak up.

"Hey, Vlad..."

"... ... ... Yes?"

"Call me Danny, okay?"

* * *

It didn't take them long to get used to sleeping side by side. Vlad wondered if maybe, just maybe something was a little wrong with him but he supposed in the days of the dead you just don't question things like that. You take where you can get it and don't complain.

More often than not, even if they fell asleep as pulled apart from each other as physically possible, they would wake up pressed against each other. He knew it was the human body's natural impulse to seek out heat, but that didn't stop him from getting a little alarmed when he woke up for the first time with Danny curled up in his arms with his cheek pressed up against Vlad's chest.

* * *

After a few days of talking and planning, they agreed on the necessity of finally hitting the hospital. Neither of them knew how many supplies would be left, or if they'd even be able to make it in, but it was something that they couldn't ignore any longer. Vlad figured Danny's healing powers must not be as strong as they used to, as his scrapes and cuts were still visible days after they were acquired. Unfortunate for the situation, but they could work around it.

Danny in particular wasn't looking forward to raiding the hospital. His lips were sealed tight for most of the day before, and well into the next morning. Vlad had insisted on them flying for once, but Danny still declined and chose to walk. He said it would help them practice avoiding walkers, but Vlad still wasn't happy with it.

They first busted into the hospital at what must have been noon. The sun was full in the sky, even if it was still chilly. The front door had been unlocked, a bad sign. Unlocked doors meant previous raiders.

Vlad wondered what it would be like if they ever met up with any other survivors. No_, when _they met up with survivors. Maddie was most likely on her way, after all. He was a bit nervous about seeing her again after his... attempt at ruling the earth, but... Danny trusts him, he's starting to think. That might be enough.

The hallways were bare, of walkers and supplies. He hadn't really been expecting supplies in the halls, but the absence of walkers was a pleasant surprise.

Vlad didn't notice that Danny had slowed to a stop behind him until the younger spoke.

"About a week or two ago... you asked about how it got like this, right?"

He stared on ahead, but stopped walking. The question was still bothering him, but... "Yes, I did."

"Well..." Danny slowly took a few steps until he was standing next to Vlad. "Like I said, I don't know how the whole thing actually broke out, but... I know how it started for me."

Suddenly, the whole hospital seemed to have a much more sinister air to it than before. Vlad felt like his blood was ice in his veins, sheer cold ice.

He kept his mouth shut, and waited.

"I was watching the news with dad. They were talking about riots, in New York and a few other places I can't really remember. I remember New York though, because I thought it was weird they were even reporting about riots there. I mean, it's New York, right? Well-"

A moaning shuffle cut him off. They could see an ominous shadow at the end of the hallway, getting closer.

Danny was obviously about to clam back up. His eyebrows were scrunching back together, and he was reaching for his axe. "No-" Vlad whispered, and grabbed Danny's arm.

"Wha-" Danny started, but was silenced by Vlad's finger on his lips.

"Shh!" He hissed, and clicked open a nearby patient room door. It had been unlocked, and Vlad cautiously peeked inside. It was empty. He pulled Danny inside, and shut the door behind him. "As long as we're quiet," He whispered, and moved as far away from the door as he could. "We should be fine."

Danny looked at him with an eyebrow raised, before smiling ruefully. "You really wanna hear this, don't you?"

Vlad closed his eyes and nodded. "Wouldn't you, if you were in my position?" When he reopened his eyes, Danny's face had fallen back into the grim, stoic expression he'd worn for the first two months Vlad had been with him. Vlad felt his gut writhe at the look; after being with the Danny that smiled and sometimes even joked in the face of horror and atrocities, being returned to this... it left a cold stone in his chest.

Danny continued to fix him with the look for a few moments longer, before finally speaking.

"No. I wouldn't."

Vlad didn't know why, but those three words sent a tremor of terror throughout his body.

Looking away, Danny scratched at the gunk under his fingernails. The reddish filth showed no sign of letting up, and he finally shook his head and dropped his hands, before looking back to Vlad.

"So, I saw the news. Like I said, they were talking about riots. I didn't think anything of it, and went about my week. Mom and dad were talking to each other a lot more in secret, you know? Whispering stuff over our heads. Mine and Jazz's, that is." He frowned. "I think she knew something was really up. She could always tell stuff like that, you know?

Soon, I was hearing more stuff about riots everywhere. Scary stuff. People eating each other stuff. I didn't think much of it, though. I mean, it's not like it was gonna happen to Amity Park, right? We've got ghosts and stuff, sure, but the people were great. Nobody was gonna break out cannibalizing each other."

He fell silent, and twiddled his thumbs.

Vlad swallowed. "They did, though. Didn't they?"

Danny nodded. "They did. That was... a little bit later, though. For the time being, I just heard a lot about riots. Jazz started getting really worked up over them, talked about them nonstop. I couldn't see it at the time, I thought she was just getting obsessed with some new psychology thing, but... I think she was really scared. She realized what was going on before I did, that's for sure.

I was too caught up in my new found fame as the 'savior of Amity Park' and having my identity as Phantom being revealed." Danny scoffed, presumably at himself. His eyes were narrowed, and his teeth were biting through his lip. "I got into a fight with Mom and dad. They were getting freaked out by the riots too, and told me to be careful. Come home early. Don't let my guard down." Danny shook his head. "I got angry because they were telling a 'superhero' what to do, how to be careful. I stormed out, and went to.. went to... "

Vlad's eyes widened. Danny was shaking, and tears were starting to form under his eyes. "You don't have to continue, if... if it's too much." He whispered, eyes never leaving Danny's.

Danny's gritted teeth softened into a small smile. "Thank you, but... I should probably... tell you. It's..." He closed his eyes. "Something you should know."

Vlad nodded. "Continue whenever you're ready, then."

After a couple of deep breaths, Danny seemed to calm down. "After I stormed out of the house, I went to Tucker's. You remember him, right?"

Vlad nodded again. "How could I forgot?" Suddenly, the thought flashed into his mind, and he couldn't believe he hadn't thought of them until now. "Where are they, by the way? Mrs. Manson and Mr. Foley? Hiding out somewhere safe, I hope?" He smiled.

Danny stared at him for a few moments, before

his face - visibly - cracked.

A creeping suspicion plagued Vlad, and he suddenly realized why Danny might get so choked up over mentioning his friends. But... honestly, the idea that they might be... seemed so absurd that he hadn't even considered it before now. He hadn't even thought of Daniel's two friends, really. "I- that's- I'm sorry, Daniel-"

Danny shook his head. "No... it's alright. I mean, it's- it's been a while. I'm... I'm okay. They're... not here. Anymore. They're in a better place, you know?" The wry grin slinks it's way across his face again, but this time it makes Vlad uncomfortable rather than comforts him. "Out of this stinking shithole, that's for sure."

Vlad had nothing to say to that.

Danny turned and looked around the room. Following his gaze, Vlad's eyes swept over the rickety bed in the corner, and the small bed stand next to it with an empty pill bottle almost hanging off it. Both the drawers were open and empty. All the machines were unplugged and missing. That much set little bells trilling in Vlad's head. Who would take medical machines? Could anyone really still use them? Who had the electricity?

He turned back to Danny. Mr. Foley and Mrs. Manson, dead. That... was something he hadn't been expecting. Vlad didn't know why, it just... seemed so... wrong. In the circumstances, he shouldn't really be surprised at anyone's death, but... "How long has it been? Since they..."

"About four years ago."

The answer knocked the breath from Vlad's lungs. Four... years?

He'd thought... maybe a year had passed. Tops. But... four? Four long years? _They must have died at the beginning. Then... Danny has been living in this nightmare for four years._

The thought is hard to stomach. How had he not realized four years had passed? He'd meant to come back after one. Four-

"Danny, how old are you now?"

The boy- is he a boy? - blinked at Vlad. "How.. old? Oh... I'm not sure. I haven't really been keeping track of days, so... I guess... I think I should be about nineteen by now. I could still be eighteen." He scratched his head awkwardly, and looks away.

"You haven't been keeping track of days? But... we-"

"No. Not until- not until you showed up." Fists tightened at his sides.

"Why not?" Vlad asked, heart hammering in his chest.

"I.. I guess... I didn't really feel like there was much of a point, you know? I was just scraping by, doing... really nothing. And then-" Danny cut himself off, and suddenly- his face was red and he bit the inside of his cheek. "Then, I guess... you showed up. I mean, it's kinda corny and weird, especially for us, but.. you kinda gave me a reason to live again. "

The quiet the pervaded the hospital room after that was suffocating. Vlad could only stare. _I... gave him a reason to live? _He couldn't wrap his head around it.

"Vlad, do you... mind if I ask you a question?" Danny asked quietly, looking all around the room. Anywhere but at Vlad's face.

"Go ahead." Vlad murmured.

"Why are you sticking around? I mean... you could go anywhere. There's no government, no-one to stop you. Why do you stay with me?" For the first time since they entered the hospital, Danny's face was open. His eyes were wide, searching Vlad's for something unnamed.

Walking over to the bed, Vlad sat down and flattened one of the crumpled sheets out. "I guess..." He looked back up at Danny, and grinned an uncharacteristic grin. It lit Danny up a little, and the teenager smiled back at him.

The smile provoked a reaction that Vlad really, really hadn't been expecting.

His heart started to race, _who knew it still did that?! _and a whole meadow of butterflies jumped into his throat. No. Oh, no. Vlad knew these feelings better than any other- every time he looked at Maddie, they surfaced. But- Oh, god.

The smile slipped off Danny's face, and he stared at Vlad with a confused look.

Vlad barely saw it. His thoughts were racing and his heart was pounding a chorus of, 'Oh, no. Oh, no.' This was ridiculous. He had feelings for Maddie, not- not- not her _son. And Maddie, where is she? She should be here for here son- _He groaned and scrubbed his eyes. His mind kept flashing back to that smile, and every time his heart jumped a meter in the air.

_No. Not only is this DISGUSTING, Vlad, but this is NOT THE TIME! Now- just- just- he asked you a question, think of something to answer him with, think of something; something that's not THIS! _Thoughts turning, Vlad smirked awkwardly at Danny. "I guess I just wanted to stick with the only other half-ghost in existence. We're the only two of our kind, we can't afford to lose each other, right?"

It happened so fast, all Vlad did was blink. Before he closed his eyes, Danny was still open and light. When he opened them, Danny had completely changed. His face had frozen, and he looked... small.

Suddenly, his face pulled in and he was back. Back to frowns and hard eyes and scrunched brows. Danny shook his head and laughed. It wasn't like any laugh Vlad had heard from him yet. It was rough and harsh, and sounded almost... painful.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Danny muttered, before turning away from Vlad completely. "You want to hear the end of the story, huh? Sure, I'll tell you."

The sudden subject change finally jolted Vlad from his panicked thoughts. Unable to see Danny's face, he had nothing to stare at but the younger's back.

"I stayed at Tucker's for the day. His father must have been bitten sometime earlier that day, because in the middle of dinner he turned and bit Tuck's neck open. His mom was screaming up the house, not like I blame her. Tuck fell down, and I rushed over to him. I barely even noticed that his dad had chased his mom out of the room. I just sat and cried."

Everything Vlad had been planning on saying died in his throat.

"Some hero I was. His dad caught up with his mom and ripped her apart. Tuck turned in my arms, and tried to bite me. I got away without a damn scratch. Didn't know what to do, so I went to Sam's. I stopped outside her window, though. How the hell could I tell her what had just happened? I almost tried to convince myself I'd just dreamed it.

I heard a scream from inside. I think all I heard for that first week was screams, you know? Help me screams, kill me screams, angry screams and sad screams. You start being able to tell them apart after a while. Well, I rushed in and found Sam's mom eating out the guts of her husband. Sam was standing there screaming her head off. I grabbed her and flew off.

Figured it was gonna be okay, you know? I had her. She was crying and wasn't stopping but I thought she'd be okay.

Guess her mom musta bit Sam before goin' in on her dad. She turned while I was flying and tried to bite my neck off. I went intangible on reflex, and dropped her. Her head splattered open on the sidewalk."

Danny was still turned away, facing the wall. Vlad felt bile rising in his throat at the story, and tried to choke it back down. Danny had been rigid until then, but he finally slumped. His shoulders hung low, and his head teetered from side to side.

"It only got worse from there. People were dying left and right, and we didn't know it but the disease was spreading. They screamed at me, you know. Because I wasn't helping. Couldn't help. There was nothing I could do, and they hated me for it. So I went home. It had been around two or three days since I'd been there.

Jazz was gone. Without a trace, just... gone. I still don't know what happened to her." Danny's voice had dropped to a low whisper, and Vlad had to strain to make out words.

"So I looked for mom and dad." Danny's hands clenched, like he was trying to work up the courage to say the next part. Vlad's stomach churned. Suddenly, he didn't want to hear any more. There was something wrong, something _awful_ in what Danny was about to say.

Vlad opened his mouth. "I think it's time for us to move o-"

"I found them."

His blood froze all over again, a disgusting cycle of the warmth of hope thawing out and the icy cold grip of despair.

"They were in the basement lab. I walked in and started trying to talk to them. They were just... standing there. Wobbling back and forward. I thought I smelled something rotten, but I couldn't tell. It was too dark. The only light on was the portal.

I walked in deeper. Kept asking questions, even though I knew. I had to have known. That they were-"

"No!" Vlad shouted with his hands cupped on his ears.

Danny didn't flinch. He stood still as a statue, eyes fixated on some invisible point on the wall in front of him.

"That- that's ridiculous. I mean, there's no way that Maddie would possibly- I- Don't joke like that, Daniel! She's just out somewhere, some other state! Gathering resources, or, searching for a cure! Of course! She's in a lab working on a cure! Then she'll come back to you and me-"

"_SHUT UP!" _

Only a few moments had passed after Danny's scream before moaning and shuffling outside their room was heard.

"They were both already turned when I went in. Had been for days, probably. The stink was a real clue." Danny turned around slowly, and fixed Vlad with a cold, hard glare. The ice of despair itself, clawing its way through Vlad's veins and gleaming in Danny's eyes. "You have to accept that she's dead, Vlad. I had to accept it four years ago when I cut her head open myself to stop her from killing me."

* * *

They didn't go any further into the hospital that day. They left the way they came, and went back to their roof. The sleeping bag was left discarded as they both curled up on opposite sides of the cement.

No words were spoken for three days.

* * *

"...Vlad."

"..."

"Vlad."

"..."

"Listen to me."

"..."

"...I- I want to- apologize. To you. That was... really cruel of me. To tell you that. I-"

"Then it was a lie?"

"... No. That was the truth. But- I should have- shouldn't have-"

"If that was the truth, then why? Why did you have to _kill her_?"

"It was already dead. It wasn't really her anymore. Just a walker."

"I'm sure that's what you tell yourself so you can sleep at night, Daniel, but-"

"It is, actually. What I tell myself. But it's true."

"..."

"Well. I- I wanted to apologize. That was cruel of me. I shouldn't have told you that. I wasn't planning on it, I just-"

"Why did you have to kill 'it'?"

"What?"

"I don't know, Daniel, why couldn't you have just... left her there?"

"It was trying to- trying to kill me."

"Intangible. Fly through the wall. Leave her. _WHY, DANIEL?"_

"... I couldn't."

" What? "

" I said I couldn't."

"_I CAN DO IT, DANIEL, SO SURELY-"_

"NO! I CAN'T! Not since- ... ... ... There's... something I've been hiding from you, I guess."

"..."

"I'm... not a half-ghost anymore. I haven't been."

"... W-what?"

"When I was in the basement with my... parents... I was real stupid. Just kept walking in. I knew they were... turned, but I didn't want to accept it. So I just walked in. When they realized I was there, they started chasing me around. I was too deep in, then. I made a break for the ghost portal to just... go rot in the ghost zone or something, but..."

"...?"

"They were... tripping. Over each other. To try to get to me. One of them must have fucked up the wiring or something, because it short circuited."

"While... you were in it."

"Yeah. That's why... I had to fight back, you know. I- I had to get by them. I had to get out. I couldn't use ghost powers anymore. I didn't have any option left if I wanted to live."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"I thought for a while that I'd fucked up. I should have died in there. That probably would have been better. Then... you came along. If you hadn't- I probably would have- ... ..."

"..."

"So... thank you. Y'know? Thanks. And- I'm sorry. Again. For everything. I'm so sorry, Vlad."

* * *

Vlad woke up, palms and forehead sweating. He had been having a disturbing dream. Flashes and colors and images he didn't understand.

Pushing himself up off the hard concrete, Vlad looked around with one eye still closed. Everything was-

A large open space to his right where Danny had been sleeping stole Vlad's breath away easier than any punch to the gut had ever done.

He stared at it for far too long. Danny... was gone? Where was he?

The answer was simple, and no matter how long Vlad thought about it, the answer came spinning back. He'd left. Without Vlad.

In a heartbeat, Vlad was up and pulling his things together. No. No, no, no, no, no. Danny was _not _leaving him all alone. Danny was all he had left. Danny was-

Wasn't a half-ghost anymore.

Had killed Maddie's walker.

These two facts swirled in his mind over and over, things he'd tried to ignore and put off and not think about. They turned over and over in his head until finally, finally, they came to a verdict.

He was all Vlad had left.

Vlad would have to think more later, figure out how he felt about the rest of this tragedy. For now, he had to find Danny.

* * *

_Where did he go?! _The question burned in Vlad's mind like salt on a wound.

He had no idea where to start searching. Amity Park was huge, and he had no way of knowing when Danny had left. If he'd left earlier, he could be almost anywhere by now. /_moving around after dark though is bad they're keener faster hungrier _/ Fear pooled in his gut, and Vlad wrung his hands. The new knowledge of Danny no longer being half-ghost had never seemed more terrifying. Vlad should have felt alone, stranded, back to the way he did before he met Danny... but...

It was a revelation that made him uncomfortable to think about. Although he'd been shocked to hear of Danny's loss of powers and many thoughts had plagued him since, not one of them had been 'loss of companionship.' It was almost as if nothing had changed. Daniel was Daniel.

On the other hand, Danny's loss of power terrified him. He'd been relying on it all this time when they'd split up or Danny would go off alone. _If it gets too much, he can just turn intangible and fly away. _The sudden reality of Danny's morality drew chords of terror in his chest.

They'd only been together for five months, but the idea of Danny getting caught by a walker froze him to his bones. There would be nothing he could do.

Thoughts of Maddie and her unfortunate demise were chased out in favor of worry.

* * *

Vlad found Danny up. Up, in the command center of his old house. His legs were dangling from a large crack in the window, and his pack rested faithfully beside him.

Danny was staring out the window, watching the sunset again. A bright shining ball of light, slowly pulled toward its inevitable smothering as night fell. Just like them.

Nothing moved besides the rhythmic dangling of Danny's legs. They kicked back and forward slowly.

It made a beautiful picture.

Vlad took a step forward, and the serenity was broken. Danny shot back inside, and leapt to his feet before whipping around, axe in hand.

Vlad took a little pleasure in seeing Danny's jaw drop when he caught sight of the older man. They stood facing each other, sunset crawling away behind them.

Danny slowly lowered the axe and shook his head. "I'd ask what you're doing here, but... "

"I came to find you, obviously, Daniel." Vlad cracked, and leaned against the wall behind him casually.

Danny seemed to relax, but his face was still stone. "Why?" A plastic grin smothered his face like the night was smothering the sunset. "You hate me, right? For what I did. It's okay, I hate me too-"

"I was worried about you." Vlad blurted out, and tried to stop himself from turning red. Vlad never really liked admitting to anything that could paint him in a weak light. Not even the dead walking was going to change that.

Danny stared. "... Worried?"

"Yeah. I mean... without your powers-" Vlad tried to start, but Danny scoffed and cut him off.

"Without my powers? Vlad, I've been living in this world for four years now without them." Their eyes met. "I know how to take care of myself. Don't-"

"I'm sorry."

Danny gaped at Vlad. "Did you just... apologize?"

Vlad nodded. "Yes. Just as you apologized for the way you... handled your words... earlier, I wish to apologize as well. For the way I reacted to them. That was... selfish. Of me." Vlad was practically biting his lip at the end, and muttering the words awkwardly.

It was quiet for a while, before...

"Ha- hahaha- ha ahahaha!" Danny's giggling broke the silence, and Vlad looked at him incredulously. The teenager was holding his stomach and laughing into one of his hands, eyes squeezed shut with tears bubbling up at their edges. Beside himself, Vlad could feel the corners of his mouth perking into a smile at the sight.

He could also feel his heart fluttering just a little too fast, and quickly looked away. "What- what's so funny?"

Danny almost had to choke the words out, his laughing had escalated so hard. "Y-you! You're so funny!"

Vlad's face slowly but surely burned red. "W-what! Why am I funny?! I was trying to be courteous and-"

"I know. I know you were being courteous. Thank you." Danny smiled, wiping a stray tear from the corner of his eye. "It was just... you apologizing! It was hilarious!"

* * *

The night stars twinkled in the sky, moonlight wafting down into the command room above the Fenton house. Vlad tried not to think about what might be in it's basement.

He decided not to ask.

It may have been small, but in those five months, they'd formed some kind of little team. Was it a rebellion against the new world order, or just an attempt at companionship. Either one could have been it, and either one was fine with Vlad.

He had lost plenty, but so had Danny. He wasn't alone. For the first time since his accident, Vlad Masters didn't feel alone. Ironic that it had to be in the days of the dead, but beggars couldn't be choosers.

He tried not to think about the things that must have happened while he'd been in space, but his head turned them over like pieces to a puzzle anyways. Only now, they didn't hurt as much anymore.

Maddie's death was a fact, and as Daniel had said, he had to accept it.

(_while danny had been sleeping, he'd gone into the fenton's lab to see for himself. he was worried danny would have moved the bodies, but for better or worse he saw what he'd come for. he fell to his knees and vomited all over the rusted and bloody tile floor_.)

(_he knows danny knew where he went that night. it was written all over his face. they never mentioned it, though_. some things are better left unsaid, right?)

* * *

They spent the next morning pouring over maps and papers they'd scavenged from a nearby pit stop. Amity Park had been a popular tourist hotspot before the outbreak, and as such most convenience stores held handy maps and site seeing brochures in stock.

They'd been lucky to find a store that carried world maps.

Both Danny and Vlad agreed on one thing - it was time to go. Amity Park was and always would be Danny's home, but it was... time to move on.

They packed up their bags as full of supplies as they could, and Danny hijacked a car while Vlad siphoned as much gas as he could find from the nearby stations. There wasn't much, but it was enough. Vlad didn't ask about why Danny knew how to steal a car. He had a good idea, anyways.

They were out on the open road the next morning at sunrise.

* * *

"Danny?"

"What's up?"

"Don't you think it's strange that we've never seen any other survivors besides us?"

"..."

"..."

"Not really. There were more, in the beginning. They all left Amity Park like we're doing now. Amity Park is a literal ghost town."

"That's right. It's far out of the way of any main road, so most people wouldn't go there unless they had a reason. Do you regret not leaving with anyone?"

"Not really. I mean, if I had, I wouldn't have met back up with you."

"Don't get all sappy on me now, brat."

"Sure thing, old man."

* * *

fin for now


End file.
